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Hugh Howey hooks you once again in another brilliantly imagined world. This time in a world of sand.

Sand covers everything. It has buried cities, it has buried people and it has buried secrets. People carve out an existence literally by hand. Everything is scarce, especially hope. One of the booming trades though is diving. Using specially designed suits ‘divers’ are able to dive beneath the sand dunes, recovering valuable artifacts from a buried world hundreds of metres below the ground.

Diving is a precious skill, one four siblings have been passed down from their father. However when he walked out on their family 12 years ago everything they had built and worked for was lost and their family broke apart as they tried to survive and find their place in this harsh and desolate world.

Rumours exist of a lost city full of treasures deeper than anyone has ever dived before. Vic, the eldest sibling and best diver doesn’t believe the rumours but her brother Palmer does and he has a lot to try and prove. Finding the lost city could be the way to put his family back together but there are many dangers buried above and below the sand.

Howey proved with the Wool Trilogy that he is a master of world building and all the different stories you can find inside. He does it again with the sand and dunes giving his imagination even more space to grow. The sand diving aspect is fantastic adding another dimension to the tradition of desert ‘seafaring’. Howey wraps the story up nicely with just a hint that their might be more of this world to explore in the future.

Buy the book here…

5 Stars When a Dragon Moves In Jodi Moore Howard McWilliam 23 Pages     Ages: 4 to 8 ........ .......... Inside Jacket:  If you build a perfect sandcastle, a dragon will move in—and that’s exactly what happens to one very lucky boy on the beach. The boy and his dragon brave the waves, roast marshmallows, roam [...]

I’m trying to do some warm up drawings and messing with different styles and brushes, papers, etc.

This is a simple line-art drawing, digitally drawn, without working off a rough. I used Painter 11, with the paper set so it has some tooth. When I use a pencil, I usually use the “grainy cover pencil”, which will cover any colors used underneath the it’s layer, as well as pick up on the grainy texture of the paper. If you work digitally, you know you can control the amount of grain with some of your tools. Painter’s digital watercolors are underneath the line work. I like to use them quick and fast. I don’t like things to look tight, so I’m fighting that ALL the time when I work. And finally, I will sometimes double up the line work and/or color layers, depending on how bold I want things to be. In this case, I went for bold.

All finished:
And regarding the "rage" in the post title - no, I'm not angry about anything, but I have to take a moment to promote my husband's new video game Rage which just released today. (And in the unlikelihood that the title isn't enough of a dead-giveaway, this game is not for young children! :) )

Official website: http://www.rage.com/gate/?return=%2F
EGM Review: http://www.egmnow.com/articles/egm-review-rage/
Several trailers: http://www.gametrailers.com/game/rage/5315

I'm currently resurrecting a number of decade-old spot illustrations based on my kitten logo that I had intended to use as a sort of branding - on letterheads, business cards, invoices, etc. Here are two of them:I'd even started paintings for all of them, but got sidetracked by other work at the time and never came back to them. I probably won't use them for their original purpose, but I thought they might make for some more good digital practice.

Summer may be winding down, but that doesn't mean you have to abandon playing in the sand. There are still quite a few sand sculpture festivals and competitions yet to be held, both family-friendly and professional:

Sandcastle and Sculpture Day - Held annually on the third Saturday in August, on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The 2011 competition is this Saturday, August 20th, so if you're hoping to enter, you'd better hop to. The application deadline is Friday, August 19th. 

•  Sand Sculpture Contest - Held annually at Point Reyes National Seashore, California. They'll be holding their 30th annual contest on September 4, 2011.
• North American Sandsculpting Championship - Held as part of Virginia Beach, Virginia's annual Neptune Festival, and spanning several days. This year's celebrations - the 38th annual - are from September 28-October 9, 2011. 
• Sand Castle Days - Held on South Padre Island, Texas. This year's festivities - the 24th annual - run from October 19-23, 2011.  
• The American Sandsculpting Championship Festival - Fort Meyers Beach, Florida's 25th annual competition is set for November 2-6, 2011.

2 Comments on Don't Put Away That Sandshovel!, last added: 8/18/2011

By Michael Welland It was a double-dose of adrenalin: watching a violently growing volcanic eruption while retaining a firm grip on my twelve-year old daughter to prevent her sliding off the rolling boat and plummeting into the turbulent waters of the Sunda Strait. The boat was a rickety old tub, the Sumatran helmsman grinning cheerfully. The volcano was Anak Krakatoa.

since I posted.  Yesterday I went back to a painting I started for an Illustration Friday prompt.  I started this using pastelbord,

but this particular board had a little more teeth then I am used to.  I have been working on it with layers & different tools.  An enlargement of a section shows it is very rough, as you can see. 

I will be working on this today & hope to finish it soon. ( I have another sketch in the works…)

In Sand: A Journey Through Science and the Imagination, geologist Michael Welland weaves together the many facets of sand – its science, its art, its music, its metaphorical power. At every scale, from grain to sand pile to vast deserts, sand is an extraordinary substance. Did you know, for instance, that the sand dunes of Morocco hum a G#? In this excerpt from the book, Michael Welland talks about the pioneering work of sand expert Ralph Bagnold.

The journey of a sand grain tumbling in the wind is a complex one, and while many of the aspects of that journey are understood, there is much, again, that is not. The foundation of what we do know, and of the research desert landscapes that continues today, is entirely the result of the pioneering work of one man (of whom we have already heard)—Ralph Bagnold. Today’s academic textbooks on sand transport often include advice along the lines of ‘for inspiration, read Bagnold (1941)’.

Bagnold’s early encounters with sand occurred after he was posted to Egypt in 1926. Shortly after his arrival in Cairo, he watched the first successful excavation of the Great Sphinx: ‘I watched the lion body of the Great Sphinx being slowly exposed from the sand that had buried it. For ages only the giant head had projected above the sand. As of old, gangs of workmen in continuous streams carried sand away in wicker baskets on their heads, supervised by the traditional taskmaster with the traditional whip, while the appointed song leader maintained the rhythm of movement’ (Sand, Wind, and War). It was never an ideal place to construct one of the world’s great monuments. Arguments about the age and meaning of the Sphinx still rage—there are limitations to the wisdom of that which, according to the Sphinx’s riddle, goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening (the answer being humankind). However, its link with the building of the pyramids is clear, and King Khafre (or Chephren) was the likely builder. The Great Sphinx has spent most of its existence largely covered by the continuously drifting sand, with only its head, blasted and worn by that sand, protruding. The ravages suffered by the head confirm that the sand that buried the body has been its salvation, preserving it from abrasion. In spite of its role over the centuries as an inspiration for archaeologists, poets, travellers, and those who believe it was built by refugees from Atlantis, its life has largely been like that of an iceberg, demurely hiding its bulk beneath the surface.

It was not until early in the nineteenth century that serious attempts at excavating the Great Sphinx were made, but these were defeated by the enormous volumes of sand involved. Further efforts in 1858 and 1885 revealed a good part of the body and some of the surrounding structures, but these attempts were again abandoned. The Great Sphinx had to wait until 1925 and the arrival of the French archaeologist Émile Baraize for its full glory to be revealed. Removal of the vast quantities of sand required eleven years of labour.

In watching the results of natural sand movements on a staggering scale, Bagnold perhaps had an inkling of the way in which his future would be intimately driven, grain by grain, by sand. The insatiable curiosity that had blowing in the wind possessed him since childhood—from an early age he was ‘aware of an urge to see and do things new and unique, to explore the unknown or to explain the inexplicable in natural science’ (Sand, Wind, and War)—would carry him through an extraordinary diversity of accomplishments until his death in 1990 at the age of 94, still in full stride.

Bagnold was one of those larger-than-life characters, but he was also, unusually, deeply modest.

Dear Grandma

Having a lovely time, here on holiday at Amityville-On-Sea.

I am sending you some photographs to show you how wonderful and exciting it is.

You were right when you said there are lots of interesting creatures to see, and fun things to do beside the sea.

I made a new friend call Tom and we were making sand castles today when out of the sand popped a dragon….

I haven’t seen Tom since to ask him if he likes dragons like I do, but some of the other kids and grown ups did not seem very keen.

In fact some ladies starting making a right fuss – shouting and yelling until they heard a horse galloping along the beach.

Lucky for them a knight, who just happened to be passing by, had heard the racket they were making and come to have a look what was going on.

It didn’t do him any good though.

I think he must have not practised very hard with dragons before (like what I do on the violin) because he didn’t win the fight.

The dragon did.

Some cats came onto the beach and they must have frightened the dragon because it went back under the sand again.

Aunty Mavis would not let me stroke the cats. She said we had to keep out of the way because some men were coming in a van to shoo them away.

They should not have come at dinnertime cos that way they would not have got eaten.

Aunty Mavis only likes sunbathing so I think all this fun was getting on her nerves.

When a man came along asking if she wanted to buy any watches she shouted at him.

He had a really cool pet with him though.

But Aunty Mavis said it was a smelly old thing and that I couldn’t cuddle it.

She said she had wasted her suntan cream today, and that all the excitement had been too much and made her feel “proper pooped”

So she said it was time to go home, back to the Bed and Breakfast I was staying in with mummy and daddy.

When I told daddy about what a good day I had had he laughed and said I could spin a good yarn, but I really should not tell fibs otherwise he wouldn’t buy me the Jack-in-the-Box he had promised to get me tomorrow.

But you know its true grandma because you have seen the pics.

Wish you were here

Your loving grandson

Eric

Also by C. Jordan, you may like to read these

Amazing Discovery: Answers to the Secrets of Life Uncovered in Postcards

Saucy Seaside Postcards

Amazing Art: 10 Stunning Works of Sand Art

He even had a Pincess with him to hold his sword and shield.

Dear Grandma

Having a lovely time, here on holiday at Amityville-On-Sea.

I am sending you some photographs to show you how wonderful and exciting it is.

You were right when you said there are lots of interesting creatures to see, and fun things to do beside the sea.

I made a new friend called Tom and we were making sand castles today when out of the sand popped a dragon….

I haven’t seen Tom since to ask him if he likes dragons like I do, but some of the other kids and grown ups did not seem very keen.

In fact some ladies starting making a right fuss – shouting and yelling until they heard a horse galloping along the beach.

Lucky for them a knight, who just happened to be passing by, had heard the racket they were making and come to have a look what was going on.

He even had a Princess with him to hold his sword and shield

It didn’t do him any good though.

I think he must have not practised very hard with dragons before (like what I do on the violin) because he didn’t win the fight.

The dragon did.

Some cats came onto the beach and they must have frightened the dragon because it went back under the sand again.

Aunty Mavis would not let me stroke the cats. She said we had to keep out of the way because some men were coming in a van to shoo them away.

They should not have come at dinnertime cos that way they would not have got eaten.

Aunty Mavis only likes sunbathing so I think all this fun was getting on her nerves.

When a man came along asking if she wanted to buy any watches she shouted at him.

He had a really cool pet with him though.

But Aunty Mavis said it was a smelly old thing and that I couldn’t cuddle it.

She said she had wasted her suntan cream today, and that all the excitement had been too much and made her feel “proper pooped”

So she said it was time to go home, back to the Bed and Breakfast I was staying in with mummy and daddy.

When I told daddy about what a good day I had had he laughed and said I could spin a good yarn, but I really should not tell fibs otherwise he wouldn’t buy me the Jack-in-the-Box he had promised to get me tomorrow.

But you know its true grandma because you have seen the pics.

Wish you were here

Your loving grandson

Eric

Also by C. Jordan, you may like to read these

Amazing Discovery: Answers to the Secrets of Life Uncovered in Postcards

Saucy Seaside Postcards

Amazing Art: 10 Stunning Works of Sand Art

The Wolf Dude and I have a competition for you. He has decided he wants to form a band - despite being unable to sing (shush! I never said that) - and he would like you all to choose a suitable name for that band. Now of course we wouldn't expect you to do that for nothing so we are offering a few prizes for the winners.


First prize:

The WolfSongs Volume 1 anthology which is edited by MH Bonham and includes my story 'The Graveyard of Dead Vehicles'.

The Sand: Strange Tales anthology edited by Edward Lupak (cover art by Aaron Polson) and including my story 'Through the Warped Eye of Death'.




Second Prize:

Wolfsongs Volume 1 anthology








Third Prize:

Sand: Strange Tales anthology










Here are the rules and other bits and bobs:

1. Leave a comment stating the name you think the Wolf Dude should give his band.
2. Competition is open from now until Midnight Saturday 13th December 2008 GMT.
3. You can enter as many times as you like.
4. The winners will be chosen by two teenagers, my mother and a three year old who prefers princesses and hates the Wolf Dude - I will have nothing to do with the judging process.
5. Check back on Sunday 14th/Monday 15th when I will be posting the names of the winners along with my email address so that you can contact me re receiving your prizes.

My summer is finish, and holiday also, however I will go on my holiday in 3 weeks.

But this is a new image onSale on Dreamstime.


© Photographer: Piedenero | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Well, I had thoughts of and ideas for a new illo for this week's Illustration Friday topic, but it just wasn't meant to be. Here's one from last year.

I'm having a very Happy Birthday and chocolates and presents are only half the reason.

Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales has accepted 'Through the Warped Eye of Death'. Woot, woot, woot! It will appear in the Fall issue - or if you're UK based like me, the Autumn issue.

I also today recieved Christopher Allan Death's edit of my story 'Dead Parachutes' due out in October in the BLOODY OCTOBER anthology.

It's going to be a good October.*

*Definite overuse of the word.

Barbara Forrest was educated in Louisiana public schools and is professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. She was one the six experts witnesses for the plaintiffs in the first lawsuit filed over intelligent design creationism, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Her book, Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, which she co-authored wih Paul R. Gross, is a carefully documented expose of the intelligent design movement. In the article below she reflects on her role since the publication of the book.

When Paul Gross and I wrote Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, we fully expected that someone with a child in a public school somewhere in the United States would eventually file a legal complaint to stop the teaching of intelligent design (ID) creationism. We had no idea, however, in January 2004, when our book first came out, that a legal case was already brewing in tiny Dover, Pennsylvania. In December 2004, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District was filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania by eleven parents who objected to the Dover school board’s attempt to inject ID into the local high school’s science curriculum. (more…)

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